Saturday 23rd April 2011 Ecriennes – La Chaussée. 24kms 9 locks

Maeva steering

Warm and sunny with only a slight breeze. Decided we needed groceries so we went by car to Cora at St Dizier to restock the freezer and get fresh veg. Back on the boat at 11.30 a.m. Set off at 11.50 a.m. and I packed the groceries away and made lunch while Maeva steered the boat and zapped locks. Down lock 68 Ecriennes (3.10m) 2.6kms to the next. Mike fixed the bow fender as we went along. Loaded péniche Majo came up lock 69 Luxemont (3.30m) then we went down. We ate our lunch on the 3.5kms pound to lock 70 Frignicourt (3.10m). Water was flooding around the top end gates and over the towpath. As we left a log got stuck behind one of the gates so it didn’t fully open. Below lock 70 there was a very large silo. 1.7kms to the last lock on the canal, 71 Désert (3.40m) in Vitry. 

High security fences around Lock 1 Vitry-le-Francois

Maeva was steering and going too fast until Mike slowed the boat down, then she got christened Maeva the speed freak. A man came out of the brand new shuttered office on the lockside and asked for the zapper. Mike remembered about the log behind the gate in lock 70 after the man had gone back in the office so Maeva went to tell him. Under the long railway bridge and through the town. The row of moored boats at the Chantier started with Miramar a large British cruiser, then a row of péniches turned or turning into houseboats, Cerda, then Renaissance with a wooden cabin above the original decks which would no longer go under bridges, then Ste Marie, Nicholas with RIP on the stern and Amicale de la Batellerie on the side. Next was Ver l’Avenir from Charleroi in a bad state of repair, part converted and not nicely done, DB Liberte, another unconverted péniche, then a cruiser alongside MiLou. 

Moored at La Chaussee-sur-Marne

Two DBS were moored in the entrance to the Port de Plaisance on the left. Two cruisers were moored by the gates to the dry dock, two boats were on it, followed by an old trip boat and finally an old German tug from Hamburg called Meyer III which could make a nice conversion – its bows had great shape. On to the canal de la Marne à la Saone for a short way. Spotted a Leclerc supermarket trolley in the edge, very unusual to see that in France. On to the Canal Latèral à la Marne. The old arm was now blocked off by a low bridge. Twisted the pole to activate lock 1 Vitry-le-François (2.60m) and the lock filled. It was completely surrounded by a high green mesh fence to keep the vandals out. Behind the fence the old lock house was empty, had bricked up windows and tiles were starting to fall off the roof. Lifted the bar and down we went. 1.4kms to the next lock 2 Lermite (3.90m). There was a quarry on the right above the lock with a nice house. The lockhouse to lock 2 was set far back on the left and still occupied. The café on the right was now longer a café. Dropped down the lock and on to the 1.2kms pound to lock 3 Couvrot (1.20m) a shallow one. 4.4kms to the next. Maeva had taken to steering the boat like a duck to water and was really enjoying herself. She steered and Mike lifted the rods on the remaining few locks. Down lock 4 Soulanges (1.55m) then 2.3kms to lock 5 Ablancourt (1.93m) then we tied up at La Chaussée-sur-Marne at the end of the 3.6km pound above the lock.